Main Accused Maulvi Umar acquitted of all charges
By TCN Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: In a big jolt to the Narendra Modi government of Gujarat which had indiscriminately arrested Godhra Muslims in wholesale for the train carnage, the special court in Ahmedabad on 22nd Feb. 2011 has acquitted 63 of the accused including Maulvi Umar who was described as the mastermind of the train carnage. The court has convicted 31 and the quantum of sentence will be pronounced on 25th Feb.
The special court, which delivered the judgment inside Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail where the trial was held, convicted 31 under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
[Photo Courtesy: currentnewsindia.com]
Fifty-nine people, mostly kar sewaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed in the fire at S-6 of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra Railway Staion on 27th Feb. 2002. The court has reportedly upheld that there was a conspiracy behind the attack on the train. However, it is not clear until the entire judgment copy is out that if it was Pakistan-sponsored conspiracy as the state government had said or it was a spontaneous attack fuelled by an altercation between Kar Sevaks and Muslim vendors at Godhra station in Gujarat.
Initial police investigations indicated that it could have been a spontaneous riot situation, but a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the state government later claimed that the act was pre-planned. The SIT had held that local cleric Maulvi Umar had ordered his four assistants to mobilise a mob at the station to target the S-6 bogey that was carrying Kar Sewaks. However, the court today acquitted Maulvi Umer of all charges.